Google is Playing Catch-Up With Apple

Data released by the application analytics firm App Annie Intelligence confirmed that Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is still the dominate player in the app marketplace. Even though proceeds from Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) Play, the company’s self-named software store, are increasing at a much faster rate than those of Apple’s App Store, the App Store still draws in four times the revenue.

The inaugural study compiled information from the 150,000 applications that use App Annie’s service to track downloads, revenues, rankings, and reviews. From this data, the company determined that Google Play revenue grew 311 percent since January 2012 and 17.9 percent during the month of October. In comparison, App Store revenue rose only 12.9 percent this year, and contracted last month by 0.7 percent. In addition, downloads from Google Play increased this year by 48 percent.

App Annie’s report also examined how changing global trends have affected the business of both companies. As TechCrunch reported, the numbers “paint a changing picture of who has the most influence over mobile software in terms of audience size.” While the United States accounts for the most app downloads worldwide, its share dropped from 30 percent to 26 percent in 2012. In the same period, China’s share rose to 15 percent.

These changes have major implications for developers. With Google becoming a bigger player in the app market and application downloads increasing in foreign markets, developers will be required to shift their focus from Apple to other software platforms and from the United States to other markets.